About Me

I'm proud to be a working mom, with two terrific kids (ages 8 and 11). I got my Ph.D. in applied psychology back in 2000. We moved to upstate NY from Philadelphia in 2006, and I'm now working as a researcher at SUNY Upstate Medical University. I'm a knee-jerk liberal, though I grew up in very red-state Arizona. I'm passionate about movies and politics. Sadly, I've now spent over a DECADE eating gluten-free, so I'm always on the lookout for great gluten-free foods.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

"Parenting a troubled teen" video

It created an internet sensation, with many millions of hits on YouTube - a disgusted father (Tommy Jordan in North Carolina) videotaped a lengthy rebuttal to his 15 year old daughter's profanity-laced Facebook post (an example from her post: "Get off your ass and get your own damn coffee.") and then fired 9 rounds from his pistol into her laptop computer, laying in the grass nearby.

Of course, many parents feel unappreciated and irritated with their teens, and many imagine taking similar action. And many have applauded him. But just as much of the reaction has been appalled, calling it child abuse and worse.

My first thought when I watched the video was, what a typically stupid American reaction - why waste a perfectly good laptop computer that way? Why not force your daughter to take it to a local school or homeless shelter and donate it? Also, what a bizarre message to send your child, to take out your frustrations in this primal way.

My other thought was wondering why the father didn't consider that there's something fundamentally creepy about a parent shooting a proxy of his own child. Kind icky. He claims he would do it again, and he's rejected offers for a reality TV show (good to know that he draws the line somewhere).